UCFS 2022 - Philippines: New election promises and the road to sustainable development

Fresh from a highly contested election, the president of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr has pledged a new chapter for the country of 110 million people. All eyes are now on his policy initiatives and whether he will fulfil his campaign promises to solve the country’s development challenges.  

In the medium term, President Marcos’s freshly penned Agenda for Prosperity proposes a staggering P5.2568 trillion national budget for 2023 — the largest proposed budget in Philippine history, which he promises will set the country on a path towards economic transformation amid a volatile macroeconomic outlook.

Meanwhile, the Philippines has been ranked 95th out of 163 countries by the latest Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Index Report, indicating that while the country has made some strides in its progress on the SDGs, it has a long way to go in achieving its sustainable development targets.

Amid a P3.2 trillion pandemic-induced debt that the Marcos Jr. administration inherited from the previous government, how will this fiscal policy unlock much-needed sustainable development in the country and lead the way for long-term resilience and growth? What role can sustainable finance play in the crucial fight against climate change and accelerating the adoption of clean energy to power the economy?

This 8 September, Eco-Business Philippines and its partners will gather the country’s senior policy and business leaders as well as sustainability and finance experts to discuss the state of play and the road ahead for the Philippines under the Marcos presidency.

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